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“What the fuck?” Rhys swore as he dropped his cards.
Oriel knew what happened before they ran out onto the deck. The soldiers and sailors were already jumping into action, and his heart nearly stopped when he squinted in the dark.
Elira’s Grace had been hit, and those on board were in a panic as they tried to prepare to fight back. A ship on the other side, manned by Windswept Isle fairies, had fired on them. The mainmast had been hit hard enough to crack it, and it was tipping over.
Aspen and Roth were probably still in the crow’s nest at the top.
He tried to tell himself that they’d seen something suspicious and came down. Maybe they didn’t go up at all. Somehow, they had to be safe.
Lifeboats were prepped to be lowered in case their ship was going to go down. All around, ships fired upon each other as confusion and panic spread. Elira’s Grace was soon ready to go down after a hundred cannonballs pummeled the hull. The Raindrop’s cannons were prepped, but firing would only hurt their own.
It was clear the fairies who had claimed to be against Asara’s treachery were liars.
Tracking lightning came somewhere, and a sailor screamed as he was hit. A flier took off from the rigging above Oriel, and he tackled another flier in midair. They spun for a moment as fire, and the enemy that had gone for the Raindrop went down into the ocean with a scream.
Ymir’s Love used its bulk to shove the wreckage of Elira’s Grace out of the way as it pulled up to protect the Raindrop. Oriel left Kalen and Rhys to give orders while he ran for a lifeboat.
“Lower this down, and get four men to row,” he told a sailor.
“We’re not sinki-”
“Do it! Roth and Aspen might be in the water!”
Rhys noticed him climbing in with four other sailors and darted over. “What are you doing?”
“Roth and Aspen were in the crow’s nest, and they might be in the water. Stay here with Kalen. We’re protected on all sides at the moment.”
His heart hammered as the lifeboat was lowered into the choppy water. The sailors undid the ropes on either end and started paddling. One looked ready to shit himself, but Oriel figured they were actually quite safe like this. Down in the water, they’d be hard to make out, and the enemy would likely think they were common soldiers. It’d be difficult to fire upon them, and why waste ball and powder when the bigger ships were a problem and far easier to aim at?
Ymir’s Love had kept steady to protect the Raindrop, and the sailors slowly inched the lifeboat toward the wreckage of Elira’s Grace. A few lifeboats had made it down, and they were overcrowded, but trying to make their way to the Raindrop.
“Where’s Roth and Aspen!” Oriel bellowed at the fairies in the closest one.
“I don’t know!”
“They went up into the crow’s nest!” another bellowed.
Fuck. The impact in the water might have killed them. If not, Aspen could swim, and he was sure Roth could too, but there was no guarantee.
They had gone around the wreckage of Elira’s Grace when they saw a fairy drop into the water from the destroyed chunk that was still floating, and he started paddling toward a floating piece of wood. A female sailor on it shouted for him. Oriel had their boat go to them to pick them up.
A nearby ship fired on Ymir’s Love but missed. Tracking lightning went overhead, and he saw flames erupt farther out as a boat was set on fire. Lightning and fire went back and forth as people tried to fight hand-to-hand.
“Get away! Get the fuck away from us!”
Oriel squinted in the dark as he frantically looked for Aspen. That had definitely been his voice. He spotted the dark shape of a lifeboat lit only by someone’s fire. A ball of it flashed out and fizzled as it hit the water, but the second of light allowed him to catch the shape of someone clinging onto a piece of wood and a glint of red hair.
“That way!” Oriel stood and threw fire toward the lifeboat.
The idiots on it had been too busy trying to kill the two survivors they’d found, and they must have spotted Roth’s red hair. Or perhaps Aspen had shouted, and one of Asara’s men had remembered his voice. One screamed as fire hit him right in the face. Oriel tried his luck again and sent out another.
It missed, but lightning hit one of the men who had stood. In the light of someone’s fire, the standing fairy jerked and stiffened before he wobbled. The lifeboat rocked, and Oriel’s next fireball hit the side.
The shocked fairy tipped back and damn near flipped the lifeboat. It was enough to knock another enemy out, and Oriel’s lifeboat drew close enough for him to put out his hand.
“Take Roth,” shouted Aspen.
A sailor threw fire at the last enemy in the lifeboat, and he fell out with a splash. Oriel grabbed Roth and heaved him up. He was moving, but something didn’t seem right. One of the sailors helped to get him in, and Aspen grabbed Oriel’s forearm so he could be pulled up.
